The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-11-02
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Notes on the Lesson for Novem-
BERG" Confessing
Christ"

From Chicago Standard BY Rev. j. M. Coon.l
The lesson for the above date may be found
in the tenth chapter of Matthew, from the
thirty to the forty-second verses-
Time, A %. 20 Place, Gahlee, particular
place not known.
SPECIAL MENTION
Contrasting Christ In Benares q young
Brahmin came TO the missionary and asked
him 10 baptize him, as he wished 10 be
Christian When the missionary questioned
him, he said, Il am an orphan, aud have heard
you preach in the city, anu wish 10 DO
Christian. Ny gods are deceiyers, but
Christ ID the saviour OF men, and died Tor
them" The missionary said, You are but
young boy yet, and must consider what you
will have to suffer if you become a Christian"
The boy replied, ~Saiib your warning comes
too late; i nave already cut my Brahminical
string and lock OF hair, nave eaten with Chris
tans, and 80 destroyed my caste. The next
day his friends came TO look for hinL 1hey
were allowed to see HIM, but not TO take him
away by force. When they left, ne threw
himself at the missionary's feet and begged
hum TO protect him. The next day his
grandmother and aunt came to him, and
about forty persons fell upon them ana tried
TO carry the boy of, but they were not al
lowed TO do this. They wept bitterly, threw
themselves at His feet aud knocked their
heads on the ground Next came the grand
father, nearly hundred years old; he was
great enemy of Christ, aud very proud and
violent He argued with his grandson, fiat
tered, scolded, cursed HIM, and At length new
into great passion, AMI said, you good-for-
nothing young fellowl 1 thought you would
one day burn my poor old bones, instead OF
which you play ms the trick of becoming
Christian" Inc boy replied, do not be
angry; become Christian, too, grandfather,
and We can nve together / cannot remain q
Hlndoo; l wish to become a Christian, for
Christ died for me-" Strong in the strength
which Christ supplies, he remained steadfast,
and ultimately was allowed to remain with
the missionaries. (Bibticdt Tredsury)
To Confess ChriSt-It may help TO definite
idea of what Is meant in these words to note
that the promise Is to those Swho confess ia
me-" 1t ID not mere public confession or
the sinner, before the church, that We are
dealing with The confession is TO be made
before men,, and, as interpreted by verses
IL and Is, this means councils, synagogues,
governors, kings, and others, III time OF peril,
which costs something. 1t is to such bold
confession as has its root in Christ, and
shows living union with Him. Such con-
fession in Christ the apostles Witnessed be-
fore the Sanhedrim. and such Christ Himself
witnessed before Pontlus Plate CActs w. IL,
! Timothy vi l3). In so far as 1t involves
similar motives and results, il NAV apply
unto others besides the apostles. (AbbotL)
Cr0SS-6edrt,g.-T Roman custom obliged
the crucified to carry his own cross TO the
place of cructixlon To this custom refer
ence is made here. The meaning Is, whoever
unto death, and that the most painful and
shameful, is not worthy OF me- 1t is, of course,
prophetic reference to Christ's own death.
Observe, also, that it Is not only cross-b bear
ing, but cross taking that is required of the
disciple. Merely to submit to burdens which
Gods providence places upon one is not
enough. There must be a voluntary assum-
ing of the burdens of Christian life. We
take up our cross when we mortify the deeds
of the flesh for the sake of those Of the
Ne
our vain, fleshly desires, so that We can
rightly put ourselves into communion with
the purpose and service of Christ STANDARD
Eclectic Commentary
Respect for parents-The Rev. Dr. Gins
burg writes: "The Egyptians to this day con-
slider it highly indecorous for a son to sit
down in the presence of his father without
permission; still less would he think of smok-
ing before him. Among the Persians, the
child manifests love for the mother and rever-
ence for the father In his presence the son,
even when grown up and aged, must neither
sit down nor smoke without special permits
sion, which IL not always granted All the
property belongs 10 the father. Hence il
never happens that the son lives in afiuencs
and the father in poverty, as 10 sometimes the
case in Europe" 1t was this great generation
and love which the Jews, in common with all
Eastern nations had for their parents, that
made ii 30 hard for them TO act contrary to
the religious convictions of those whom they
tenderly cherished, and leave them altogether
in order to follow Christ 1t was this same
laudsble feeling to which our Savior refers
when he says, "He that loveth father or
mother more than Me is not worthy of Me"
Matt TO- 30; and which called forth his
comforting promise, "Verlly i say unto YOU.
there is no man that hath left house, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
but he shall receive a hundred fold now" etc
Mark TO- 20, 3O) And 1t is this which gives
such all awful reality to the picture when one
with an Eastern m nd reads the words, "The
father shall be divided against the son, and
the son against the father; the mother against
the daughter" etc luke II: 53(. Cooks
Comprehensive Quarterly
CONNECTING LINK.
Our lesson to-day IL the closing part OF the
instruction which our Lord gave to his twelve
apostles. His discourse on that occasion con-
sists of two parts. The first Matt 10: 5-15)
contains particular directions for their imme-
diate mission; the second Matt 10: 16-42)
contains instructions suitable for their later
ministry The discourse peculiar to Mat
thew though some Of its sayings are found
in the other gospels. A number of reasons
have been given 10 encourage the apostles to
go forward ~undeterred 10y the fear Of men;
first the tact that ii they are maltreated and
slandered il is no worse than their Master
himself suffered Tvs. "a, 25); second, that the
truths they proclaimed destined TO be
made known, and thus no opposition will pre-
vent ii Tvs. 26. 20; third, that Gods wrath is
more TO be dreaded than mans ". 2S); fourth.
tainiy care for them Tvs. 29-3D; finally, that
if we do not confess Christ b fore men he will
not confess us before his Father In heaven"
(Broadus)
PRACTICAL THOUGHTS.
l. Our religious faith must speak out-man-
fest itself C32). We are not allowed to con-
ceal our faith in Jesus; i, would not only be
cowardly, but extremity ungrateful to fail TO
stand up, before a gainsaying world for him
who, in our behalf, endured the contradic-
ton of sinners against himself" AS he loved
us even unto death, We should be willing and
ready TO die for him.
. To deny Christ is TO fail to confess him
C33). There is no middle ground @He that is
not for me is against me; and he that gather
eth not with me scattereth abroad"
3 We should not be driven from the service
of Christ through the opposition Of others
(34-3S) Christ has a supreme claim on our
affections and service II even father or
mother should stand between Christ and us.
we must prefer Christ This is the supreme
test Of discipleship-the surrender of all for
Christ See Luke IA: 1888
T. Beware how you sacrifice future inter-
ests to present gains--the bliss Of eternity to
momentary ease I39, He is always the
gamer who clings to truth and duty for when
these are forsaken all is lost
+ M.